National Museum Stockholm Acquires Lavinia Fontana Altarpiece

An altarpiece by Italian Mannerist painter Lavinia Fontana has been purchased by the National Museum in Stockholm, the museum announced today. The work has largely gone unseen by the public until now.

Titled The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (1607), the altarpiece is set in a palatial interior and shows the moment when the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child appear in a vision to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, with the child placing a ring on Catherine’s finger. Catherine, who chose to dedicate her life to God, was executed for refusing to marry the Roman Emperor Maxentius.

According to the museum, the painting was made at the height of Fontana’s career and is a “remarkable” example of her work. The piece had previously been in an Italian private collection since the late 19th century. A donation made by the Sophia Giesecke Fund made the acquisition possible.

The museum has worked to acquire more pieces by female Old Masters, adding paintings by Sofonisba Anguissola and Artemisia Gentileschi to its collection in recent years.

Fontana (1552–1614) is considered one of the first recognized professional woman painters of her era. She was trained by her father, the painter Prospero Fontana, before marrying nobleman and painter Gian Paolo Zappi in 1577. Working as a portraitist, she was commissioned by university scholars and local nobility in Bologna, the Italian city where she was born. She also painted many small-scale devotional pictures, as well as larger mythological works and altarpieces—something few other female artists did at the time.

She received her first papal commission around 1590 and moved with her family to Rome in 1603 to explore new opportunities. There, she became one of the first women accepted to the prestigious Accademia di San Luca. Additionally, Fontana is thought to have been the first professional woman to run her own independent commercial art studio in Western history.

The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria will go on view at the National Museum on Tuesday.